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Lifting a camper

mrk5

mrk5

The Sticker Guy
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So we have our 79 Prowler camper that I would like to lift.

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I have to run a 12" drop on the crew cab and it really should be about 14".

2018-05-09 09.38.26.jpg

It has the drop spindle type axles.

2018-05-09 09.38.18.jpg

So I'm thinking I can just weld new perches on the top of the axles to do a spring over conversion. Anyone have experience with this? Also any tips or pitfalls to watch out for.
 
I've seen the flip done, etrailer.com sells the kits. Might need new centering pins? No experience actually doing it but it seems simple enough.
 
I would think long and hard before doing this.
From a mechanical standpoint it should be fairly straightforward. Probably easier than lifting a truck.
BUT, those campers are fairly light to start with, and most of the weight is in the camper part. The running gear has almost no weight.

Plus you are in Colorado, which makes it worse.
When you start raising that camper, the center of gravity goes up too. Its bad enough passing an oncoming semi on a two lane road, that usually only causes sway. But you start across some wide open spaces with a 40 mph cross wind, and you might find it on it's side.
The higher you go, the more unstable its going to be. Lots of surface area against not much weight.

And to make much difference in hitch height, you are going to have to go fairly high.
I know its a pain, and looks bad, but I would go with either what you have, or spring for the 14" drop hitch. As long as its well braced, it should be fine structurally.

Of course, if you want to add a load leveling hitch, you are going to have to come up with a drop receiver I think. Still doable.
 
I actually lifted a 18' tandem axle camper for a friend last season. Here's what we had to do to get it to work.
Obviously spring over perches welded to the axle. Added shock mounts and shocks to control some of the rotational shift. Remove those factory spring hangars and install new heavier duty versions. Add bracing in the I beam to make it more rigid at the new spring hanger. Last but not least, I tied the spring hangers together with 2" square tubing to give the spring hangers and frame more support. Nowadays having a camper trailer lifted up higher is a common thing. I did it exactly as the factory does on the ones I have seen. Whole process took a couple of afternoons to weld up.
 
I have lifted them before. Did just a spring over on it. Raised it about 4-5 inches. Buddy wanted it higher, so we added some square tube to the bottom of the frame. We also crossbraced all the suspension mounting points. Used thicker shackles replaced all the spring bushings

We thought about putting shocks on but didn't. Does it have more sway? Yes. But it's fine. This was in southern Idaho where 30 mph sustained winds happen a whole lot.

I can't even count the number of older lifted trailers like yours that come out if the woodwork when hunting season starts
 
Are there long-term problems running the axles upside down? With the existing spring perch under the existing spring, isn't that 10-12" by itself?
 
Blue85 said:
Are there long-term problems running the axles upside down? With the existing spring perch under the existing spring, isn't that 10-12" by itself?
Click to expand...
I saw either a video or an article that was an explanation as to why you shouldn't run the axles upside down. I didn't read or watch it, just figured that meant I should not go that route.

I did think it would work well to run new straight axles. Down side is the cost. Especially because I would want to fall down the MAW (might as well) hole. I would want to change the hubs from what I have now that use bolts instead of studs for the wheels. Then I would also want new wheels to get away from the old style. While I'm at it, it would be nice to put new brakes on too...........
 
sweetk30 said:
the axle is bent in a arch and if you flip it it will mess with camber of the tires.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, good point. How hard is it to cut the ends off and flip the ends 180 degrees? If the brakes need to go the other way, can't they be swapped from left to right?
 
I have a spring over on my camper. Its great but my axles are straight. If you don't flip the axle, just spring over, your camber would be fine and the lift wouldn't be huge.
 
KISS method here people . keep it simple stupid .

new perches / center pins / u-bolts and make current setup spring over . then its simple and easy to convert back if you do not like it .

no need to rethink the wheel .
 
Yep I agree. Simple is the way to go. Buy a trailer suspension flip kit and slap it on. On a trailer this size it will work perfect. The really big top heavy ones get kinda sketchy going higher. If you needed new axles then straight would be the way to go. I did a mini-ex trailer that way once but that was after the current axles and spring perches got mangled off road. You do not even need to cut off the old perches.
 
We're wanting to get a cheap pop-up and axle flip it to use on mild off-road trails as a family base camp. Gotta regear the X before I get too caught up in that project.
 
I agree with Fordum....don't raise it. I know a guy who did this several years ago, made his trailer spring over. He said it could get scary in crosswinds. He ended up going back to spring under the same year.
 
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